AROUND 10,000 British passports were issued to fraudulent applicants in a 12 month period, the Home Office revealed today.

The admission raised fears that terrorists could easily access British passports. It has recently emerged that two convicted terrorists were issued with two false British passports each.

One was a Moroccan found guilty of a bombing in Casablanca, and the other was Dhiren Barot, from London, who was sentenced to life last November for plotting to kill thousands of people in the UK and US.

Home Office minister Joan Ryan today revealed that the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) received 16,500 fraudulent applications between October 2005 and September last year, of which 10,000 had gone undetected.

The figures were revealed as the IPS prepares for a new initiative to cut fraud.

A requirement for adults applying for a passport for the first time to attend face-to-face interviews will be gradually introduced from May, the IPS said.

"It appears that the level of attempted fraud is increasing and getting more sophisticated," Ms Ryan said.

Today's fraud figures were based on a sample of several thousand applications and are believed to be the most accurate estimate so far of the extent of passport fraud.

Ms Ryan added: "Analysis of the frauds shows that the main fraud threat is from first-time adult applications, followed by first-time child applications."

Downing Street said the passport service had made huge progress in the fight against fraud. A spokesman said each case was being followed up and the answer to the problem was being addressed by the interview initiative.